Away from Home
by Vampiresswolf
Summary: Copperkit and Sandkit are stolen from StoneClan when they are very young. When they are raised away from the clan, and their brother Ashkit, will they want to return? Can they return? And what is this place where cats are taken, prodded, and placed back into cages?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Ashkit! Sandkit! Let's go explore!" an Abyssinian-colored kit called to his siblings in a whisper, awakened before the clan. His siblings' eyes cracked open, and they yawned.

"What?" the tomcat, Ashkit, muttered.

"We can go look at the territory! Come on, we'll be back before the clan wakes up! It'll be such an adventure!"

"We can't, Copperkit, we're not old enough." Ashkit narrowed his eyes.

Copperkit's tail twitched, "Awe, come on! It'll be an adventure!"

Sandkit's eyes widened in excitement, and she wriggled out of the nest as carefully as she could manage, "Yeah! Let's do it!" She said.

Copperkit almost let out a mew of excitement, but held back, and turned toward his brother, "Come on! It'll be fun!"

Ashkit's eyes narrowed at his two brown siblings, and shook his head, "No. I won't disobey mother. Go do as you wish."

Copperkit sighed, and after a few more feeble protests, Sandkit nudged him toward the entrance.

"Olivewhisker is on duty, be careful!" Sandkit whispered, and Copperkit nodded as he led the way into the shadows of the rocky crevasse of StoneClan's camp. He narrowed his eyes to reduce glare and stepped slowly as they passed the drowsy new warrior.

Once they slipped out of camp, he turned toward his sister, "I can't believe we did it!" He whispered, excited.

Sandkit giggled nearly uncontrollably, nodding, "Come on! Who knows when someone'll notice we're not there!"

"Think Ashkit'll keep quiet?" Copperkit wondered, suddenly apprehensive, but his sister nodded.

"Of course he will, he's our _brother!_"

Copperkit laughed, his fears banished, as they bounded along the rocky alcove and into the trees surrounding their camp.

"I never thought that grass was so… so… springy!" Sandkit stated, eyes wide in amazement.

Copperkit couldn't help but chuckle, "It's so _soft, _too!"

Sandkit's eyes sparkled mischievously, "I bet I can beat you to that rock over there!" She said, pointing to a barely-perceptible boulder that rose out of the ground ahead.

"Okay!" Copperkit was always ready for competition!

The two kits raced forward as fast as they could, tails streaming behind them, laughing as they went.

"I win!" Copperkit shouted, his paws slapping onto the smooth stone surface.

"Alright, alright, you win." Sandkit's eyes glittered, and Copperkit growled.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be _laughing! _You lost!"

Sandkit shrugged, "Hey, I needed to groom anyway. My pelt's a mess. You can win, I didn't really care anyway.'

Copperkit sighed as he watched her sit down and begin to clean herself.

"You're so weird." He said, eyes narrowed.

"So are you!"

Copperkit shrugged and pushed her to her feet, "Come on, we're out here to play, remember? Not to preen. You can do that when we get back."

He looked up at a tree that towered above them, "I wonder…" He murmured, "Hey Sandkit! You think we can see Camp from up there?"

Sandkit padded up beside him and careened her head back, "Probably. Should we see?"

Copperkit grinned, "Of course! Come on!" He leaped forward, opening his claws and clinging onto the soft wood of the conifer, "It's easy!" He called to his sister as he made his way up.

He looked down and saw that his sister had doubtful eyes, "What?"

"Well… I'll probably get splinters… or bark in my paws…"

Copperkit rolled his eyes, "Oh come on! It's fun!"

Sandkit nodded, eyes steeling, and reached up, pulling herself up the bark until she was beside him.

"It _is _fun!" she said.

He nodded, "I told ya!"

They rested on the base of the first branch, and looked down. Copperkit gasped, "We're so far up!"

Sandkit looked down and squeaked, "How… how are we going to get back down?"

Copperkit looked at her, having not thought of that, "Umm…" he looked at his paws and dug them into the bark, "Well, our claws will only hold if we're headed up… so maybe if we go backwards?"

He turned to ask his sister, but when he looked around, she wasn't there, "Um.. Sandkit?" at a sudden scream, he dashed to the trunk, his sister had fallen! "Sandkit! I'm coming!"

"Don't go down head-first!" She whimpered, "I slipped!"

Copperkit nodded, and tentatively scrambled down the trunk backward, "What's wrong?" He asked, seeing the pain on her face.

"I… I think I twisted my paw… it hurts!" She picked up her front paw, which to Copperkit _seemed _fine.

"Can you walk on it?" He asked.

Sandkit shrugged, getting to her paws, but with another scream and a gasp of pain, she slumped forward, "N..no.." He could hear the teary voice though she was hiding her face.

Copperkit frowned, padding forward, "Let me help." He looked at her, trying to see where he could push her up without hurting her, when she heard a startled gasp from Sandkit. He looked up, and then he hissed.

A twoleg was looking at them curiously in the brightening daylight.

"We need to go!"

"I can't! My paw! You go! I'll be fine."

Copperkit shook his head, "No. Not without you!"

The twoleg slowly stepped forward, her paws outstretched, as Copperkit helped his sister to her paws.

The twoleg continued to creep toward them, and Copperkit and Sandkit tried to scurry backward as fast as possible.

But then Sandkit's paw gave out again, and she fell. It gave the Twoleg the push it needed, and before Copperkit could get her to her feet again, he was wrapped up in a blue pelt, his sister beside him.

"What's happening!" His sister wailed. They thrashed, but they could not escape.


	2. Chapter 1

**CH. 1**

The sound of the food bowl rustling awoke him. He stretched, his black paws reaching out in front of him as he yawned. He'd had that dream again. The one where he was in the ravine, and there were a lot of other cats around. _How very strange…_ he thought, _that I was ever able to find myself at home here, when all that was out there…_

He stood up and padded into the kitchen, bending his head to eat at the bowl of kibble, _especially when I have this stuff here that passes as nourishment instead of a nice juicy rabbit._

He polished off the kibble and padded into the living room. He could hear the cries of the cats being fed. _They are fed closer to forest food than I am… because unlike me they're purebred._ He sighed. He should be happy being the Twolegs' housepet instead of their income, but he wasn't, not really. Sure, he had full run of the front of the house, and they were confined to that room back there, but all he could think about was the fact that back there, it was more forest-like than it was up here. Sure, none of those cats could leave except when they were brought to the breeding room or put into the Monster outside, and frankly, he should be happy he wasn't left back there. But at least they had a chance of survival. He knew that a few moons ago the Twolegs brought two more cats into the house. They had smelled different than normal, as though they had come from the 'rescue' where he had been kept instead of from the breeder's.

He frowned, why were they put in the back if they had come from the pound? Surely such 'purebred' cats wouldn't be caught and sent there?

He shook his head, but the thoughts would not leave him. The thought that maybe, just maybe, they weren't as pure as the Twolegs believed. He licked himself clean, sighing as he remembered the Cutter, that place that took away his edge, that turned him soft, just so that he could not mate with their precious purebreds. He sighed and stopped his cleansing ritual, his thoughts bothering him enough that he padded into the back. There was a window of impenetrable hardness that allowed the Twolegs to watch over their cats. It was this that he leaped up into. He saw that the fence had once again been lifted, as the food for the cats had been placed out, and he saw all of them converging on the food. He flicked his tail, frowning. There was a silver kit-bowl left unattended in the corner.

He looked through the fake trees until he saw them. An apprentice-aged pair of tan cats. One was more of a ginger, and the other more of a sandy color, but they looked obviously like a couple of older cats, with one difference. They were obviously clan cats. All kits born in this StarClan forbidden place were comfortable and settled in easily. These kits, they were backed into a corner, eyes haunted, the male hissing at anyone that approached. His ears perked up.

"StoneClan!" He grumbled in his deep, raspy voice. He couldn't let them be here! They had to grow learning the code that every honorable cat lived by. He looked around, and leaped down, padding to the door that opened into the large back of the house, and began to yowl, scratch and throw the biggest tantrum this place has ever seen.

Soon, a Twoleg came, and yelped at him, but he did not cease. He knew that the cats on the other side of the door must be wondering what the ruckus was about, but he could care less. He absolutely _had _to help those kits.

Finally, he heard them lowering the fence, and the cats scrambling out of its way. And then, after what seemed an eternity, the door slipped open, and he dashed inside.

Now, he too was trapped in the back of the house. But he was with the kits. He could do the duty he was born to do. He heard the door slam behind him, and the fence raised up.

The purebred kittypets cautiously stepped forward, sniffing at him, but he had eyes only for the two kits. He bounded past, through the trees, ignoring the protests and confusion oozing from the cats around him, before he halted in front of the corner.

"Leave us alone!" The tomcat hissed, keeping his tail barring his sister's body.

"Oh, kits… StoneClan kits!" He whispered. Now that he was closer, he could smell it. It was faint, just barely there, but there it was.

The she-cat peeked her head around her brother, "Who are you?"

He wrapped his tail around his paws, "I am known as Cory, but I was once called Raventail."

The kits' ears went back, "But you're just a myth to tell kits, so they don't leave camp!"

He shook his head, "I am afraid not. How long have you poor things been here?"

The tom's ears went back defensively, but the she-cat looked at him, trust in his eyes, "We were taken four moons ago, and placed in a horrible place! Then this Twoleg came, and she brought us here, and at first we thought we were going home…." Her eyes dipped to look at the ground below.

"You cannot escape here without help, and I am sure you know it. What are your names?"

The tom narrowed his eyes, but again the she-cat looked at him, all trust, "I'm Sandkit and this is my brother Copperkit."

Cory nodded, "We will work with that, then, we will. Follow me. I will apprentice you."


	3. Chapter 2

**Ch. 2 **

Copperkit flicked his ears back and looked at the tomcat in front of him. Sure, he knew about StoneClan, and he _said _his name was that of a cat that the clan still spoke of, but how could he be sure?

"Come on, then! We must teach you of StarClan's way!"

Copperkit was about to refuse, but his sister dashed out eagerly from behind him to follow Cory. He sighed and padded after them.

"Now, the first thing ya need to know is how to hunt. Because even if ya can fight your way outta places, you will starve if you can't catch yer food. And even if you can't fight, you can use yer hunting tactics to protect yerself."

He flicked his tail, "Now, Copperpaw-"

"I was never named Copperpaw. I'm Copperkit until Shadedstar gives me my name." He growled.

"Well Shadedstar-that ol' tom made it to leader? My, goodness. He was a rambunctious kit when I lef."

Copperkit narrowed his eyes.

"Shadedstar ain't here. So you're under my protection now, unless you want to be stuck here foreva?"

Copperkit sighed, "No. I don't."

"Good. Let's get at it then, shall we? As I was saying, your name will be Copperpaw and your's will be Sandpaw, float?"

Copperkit thought, _I guess having my apprentice name can come in handy sometime._ He frowned, nodding and deciding he would go with it.

Sandkit-paw, was looking to their side, and so Copperpaw looked too.

"That there is Merla. She's a purebred like they thinks you is. She's gonna has her kits here soon." Cory said, looking at them.

"She's really pretty…" Sandpaw stated, and Cory grunted.

"I guess you could say that. I don't really see anythin' in females anymore. I wasn't a pure, so I was brought to the cutter to keep the pures pure."

Copperpaw looked at him, "Cutter? What's that?"

The old tom looked at him, "Cutter's a big twoleg with sharp objects. He put me to sleep, and when I wokes up, I wasn't no tomcat anymore."

Sandpaw eyes widened, "They turned you into a she-cat? How'd they manage that?" She gasped.

Cory looked at her, "No. They made me none of the above. They cut it off, hence the name cutter, you see?"

Sandpaw frowned, but nodded, and Cory purposefully led them forward.

"Now, huntin. There's no real prey in this room, so we'll hav'ta improvise. We'll use that there leaf as a mouse, alrighty?"

The two kits nodded, and Cory padded forward, crouching, "Now, I'z got a little poor on ma form, due to age, but this here is what is called a huntin' crouch. You two try now, alri?"

Copperpaw frowned and nodded, padding forward and attempting to copy the move.

"No, no. hauches down and tail straight!" Cory grumbled in his strange dialect, slapping his paw to get Copperpaw into the right position, "You not gonna catch anythin' with that tail wavin', hear?"

Copperpaw growled low under his breath, but nodded, perfecting his form.

"Good. Sandpaw, yer turn."

Copperpaw stood, and Cory growled, "No, stay in form. If ya sit there like that, you'll learn it and perfect it, got it?"

Copperpaw sighed, but nodded and bent back down, Cory had to straighten his tail again.

He peered out of the side of his eye as Sandpaw bent. Cory grouched something about her form as well, and smacked her back to straighten it, making her whimper.

"Don't hurt her! That's my sister!" He growled.

Cory looked at him, "No pain, no gain. Back in form, now!"

Copperpaw's eyes narrowed, but bent down.

Cory padded around them, pushing a paw forward her, straightening a gaze there, until Copperpaw thought his paws would give out under him.

"Good, now, creep forward and attack the leaf, Sandpaw, you first."

"Shouldn't Copperpaw go first? He was practicing his form first." Sandpaw asked. He could hear the exhaustion in her voice, but he felt a thrill of happiness. That was his sister, all right. Always worried about other people first.

"No. He's a tom. He needs ta learn to keep still longer, build up those muscles."

Sandpaw looked at him with a _sorry_ in her eyes, before stepping forward to go after the leaf.

"No! You are walkin' too fast and heavy. You lost your prey. Back up an' try again."

Sandpaw sighed and did as she was told. Cory repositioned the little leaf, and flicked his tail, gesturing Sandpaw to try again. She screwed up her face and slowly, steadily snuck forward.

"Good. Now, the wind is coming at you right now from the back. Move around so that yer scent doesn't scare your prey."

Sandpaw nodded, slowly moving around and then she looked up at Cory, who nodded, "Good, now leap and pounce, snap its neck to kill it. That's the stem on this leaf."

Copperpaw nodded and leaped, shredding the leaf as she landed on it.

"Good, but you do not want to shred it. That makes it lose all of its juices. Copperpaw, your turn. You can go relax, Sandpaw."

Copperpaw saw as his sister went to lay down by the tree, relief obvious on her face.

Copperpaw himself was glad to start. He was sure his legs were shaking and almost giving out.

"Now, Copperpaw."

Copperpaw nodded and began to sneak forward, "Did you not learn anything from when your sister tried? Come now, soft, slow. Back up and try again."

Copperpaw growled again under his breath as Cory repositioned the new leaf, and had him restart. Copperpaw sneaked forward, having to do it many times before Cory was satisfied. Copperpaw quickly realized that he was giving him a lot more problems than he had given to Sandpaw, everything from wind changes, to sticks, to stones hiding his view. By the time Cory let him relax, he felt as though he was really going to collapse.

They heard a tinkling, the same noise that had appeared that morning before Cory appeared, and Sandpaw and Copperpaw jumped, backing to each other.

"Oh, that's just supper, come on then, let's go eat."

Sandpaw and Copperpaw looked at each other, disbelieving, but timidly followed Cory as they padded toward where the other cats were swarming toward the metal vines. Once it lifted, the cats all converged on a ton of bowls on the ground. Cory led them to three bowls to the side, and Copperpaw looked into it.

"Rabbit turds? We're expected to eat rabbit droppings?" Sandpaw asked, sounding disgusted as Cory was dipping into his own.

"It's food, eat or you'll starve."

The siblings looked at each other, and then sighed, tentatively eating the food.


	4. Chapter 3

**CH. 3**

Cory flicked his tail as he watched his two apprentices through the window. He was allowed in only from First-Meal to Second-Meal, and now that it was after Second-Meal, he had to, once again, satisfy himself by watching Copperpaw and Sandpaw play with each other. They had been here for nearly six moons now, and for training among fake plants, he had to agree that they were doing well.

He watched as they frolicked, still staying to themselves most of the time. They had been named by the Twoleg just at the last half-moon, named Rusty's Rebellion and Cinnamon's Challenge. He sighed, knowing Rusty and Cinnamon would never catch on with the two young cats, if he could help it.

A young she-cat, one of Merla's kits, was sitting close by, watching the two apprentices, and Cory frowned, what was going on here?

The young Abyssinian padded over and sat beside Copperpaw and Sandpaw, speaking to them. Cory couldn't hear what they were saying, but he supposed it didn't much matter. They would tell him as soon as the divider was lifted at First-Meal tomorrow.

He sighed, padding over to his soft pelt-nest, and curled up to sleep.

**OOO**

The next morning, He was picked up to be brought to the kits. He frowned, he never missed a morning. He was placed down alongside the bowls, which now included his own as well, and they left, lifting the Food-Barrier. The Abysinnians swarmed toward him, Copperpaw and Sandpaw immediately greeting him, and the she-cat he had seen the day before sat down at her bowl, eating.

"Who's tha perty lattie you was talkin to yesserday?" He asked, his words slurring more than he was used to. He frowned but shrugged as Copperpaw looked up.

"She says her name is Fawn, or Fawn's Flight, registered. What does 'registered' mean?"

Cory smiled sadly, "Regster is a piece papa' that tells ya you'z a purebred. You gots a regist' name too."

"But I'm _not _a purebred?" Sandpaw asked, confused, and Cory smiled.

"To thems you is. Theys found ya as a kit. You looked like abys, so they assumed ya was. Two kits went missin' some time ag', Theys just assumed you was them."

"So we have… fake lineage?" Sandpaw asked, eyes wide, and Cory nodded, "Yes'm, miss Sandpa', or should I says, Cinnamun?"

Sandpaw narrowed her eyes, "My name's not Cinnamon. You know that."

"Yes. I does. But these Twolegs? They doesn't, so that'z what ya will be called, and that'z what you best ansa to."

Sandpaw sighed, nodding, "And you to Rusty, Copperkit. What's a Rusty anyway?"

"Rust is what happens to metal when it's out a long time." A sweet voice answered as the little she-cat approached, "So that's what you're named after."

"Exacta." Cory nodded.

"You're Cory, right? The Cut tom who lives in the front of the house?"

Cory nodded again, "Yus. What'z it to ya?"

The she-cat, Fawn, bucked back, ears flattened, "Well… I just wondered what it's like outside of this sector of the back?"

"Sector? What's a sector?" Copperpaw asked, and Fawn laughed.

"We're separated back here, don't you know that? Don't you ever wonder why all the cat's you meet in here are similar in color to you? It's because you look like a Purebred Abyssinian, and so you were placed in our sector. Cory's the only cat besides the Toyger's I've ever seen of another color, and I've never been able to converse to the Toyger's because the plex is too thick to talk through."

"Plex?"

"A fake window? Surely you've seen them? You look through it every day at us."

Cory frowned and then nodded. He did remember that there was a clearish substance that separated the Purebreds from all of the others. He had assumed it was some sort of separation device, because none of the cats ever had kits that looked anything but what the parents looked like.

"I'd like to see this… 'Plex'. If I could?" Sandpaw asked, and Fawn nodded, "Sure! Finish eating and I'll bring you over there." She smiled warmly at Copperpaw, with flared a bit of fatherly protection over the tom that he had not been accustomed to, but nodded, dipping his head back toward his bowl.

Once they had finished, Fawn padded toward the inside of the Back, the apprentices right on her tail and Cory close behind.

"What's a Toyger?" Sandpaw asked, her tail twitching in excitement.

Fawn laughed, "It's a type of cat, like us, but they've got strange markings. They're supposedly direct descendants of something called a tiger, but I don't know. They sure can jump though!"

"How do they look?" Copperpaw asked.

"Well… you know how we're a pretty solid color?"Copperpaw and Sandpaw nodded, "Well, they've got lines, like really large and really dark and really wide claws ripped over their bodies. Those claw-marks are black, and the bottom's like a really dark golden color."

Sandpaw's eyes were frightened, and so Cory spoke up, "They'z tabby cats, but wif mo'e distinguished markin's."

Copperpaw nodded, understanding, but Sandpaw seemed confused.

"Like Dad, remember?" and Sandpaw seemed to understand that, for she nodded.

"Well, ya'll see 'em in a secund." Cory stated, and Fawn nodded.

"Come here!" The three previously Clan cats followed her under yet another fake bush and out the other side. There lay what was a very long and very high window. It was obviously to the roof and to the walls. It was also obviously very thick.

"See, there?" Fawn asked, flicking her tail.

Copperpaw frowned, sitting on one side of Fawn while Sandpaw sat on the other.

"Um… no. I don't?" Sandpaw asked, and Fawn giggled.

"Right there. By that tree. There, he moved!"

"Oh! They're so good at hiding!" Sandpaw said in surprise.

"Yeah. In trees." Scoffed her brother, "They'd be horrible in the rocky areas of StoneClan's camp."

"Well, yeah. In Clan territory they'd be bad anyway. No offense, Fawn, but you cats haven't been trained, or raised for the wild."

"None taken." Fawn smiled, "We were bred for the Ring. I'm actually really interested to see how you wild cats do."

"Ring? What's that?"

Fawn laughed, "Oh, you'll see. I'm sure, oh yes! There she is now! You'll begin today!" Fawn laughed as a twoleg called out.

"Fawn! Cinnamon! Rusty! Come here, kitty, kitty, kitties!"


End file.
